Truck fun

We had to call in to the Pete dealership yesterday before going to pick up a hay load in Brooks, but a half hour job turned into a much longer one, so, seeing as I was suffering from a bit of a cold and sore throat, we took ourselves off to a hotel in Lethbridge for the night instead of sleeping in the truck. The truck won't be ready until this afternoon, so we won't get the load sorted until tonight or tommorow.
I don't mind the delay as I feel like death warmed up, and don't fancy clambering about a load of hay in these high winds, trying to set up the tarps anyway.

Happy New Year.

A Happy New Year to our friends and family, near and far, and the new addition from Gareth and Lyndsey, Seth Emmett.

We had a good run up from Houston with our reload of tyres, but were constantly chasing the time, due to the holiday curfew in Montana. The curfew in Montana started half an hour after sunset on Friday, which meant we had to cross the border by 5.08pm otherwise we would be shut down until Tuesday morning.

We arrived at the Canadian border window at exactly 5.08pm and sailed through without any problems.
There is a Government scale just north of the border, which is always open and we went through there with no problem also.

Then... a short way up the road we were pulled over by the cop from the scale, who had followed us. I had forgotten to slide my extending lights out from the side of the trailer as it had got fully dark, and it cost me a $230 fine after a level 2 inspection at the side of the highway.

Although I was completely at fault, it would have been much fairer to give me the light at the scale to come inside, where they could have simply reminded me to pull out the lights before I left the scale.

A great New Years at the Leasks in Medicine Hat with their friends, starting at the Captains Cabin in town, where I was the only civilian in a pub full of squadies, and ex squadies. Great fun, seeing in the New Year there at 5pm, then back to the house to see in the Canadian New Year, with a few drinks and some fireworks for the (big) kids.

Houston, not so dodgy after all.

Well there were a few pan handlers and polishing crews in the Flying J, but nothing to make us feel unsafe, and we had a nice quiet night there.

The plant where we were picking up was just across the street, so after a truck/trailer wash at the Blue Beacon next door, we went to load at 8am local time.

It took them 3 hrs get their fingers out and load four tyres, but they did apologise for keeping us waiting.
We have 12' 4's so will need  a pilot car to cross Oklahoma, but we can run solo everywhere else, although we have to shut down half hour after sunset everywhere along the route back, except when we cross into Canada.

We managed to get to Wichita Falls, Texas today before we ran out of daylight running time, and picked up the OS permit for Oklahoma which the boss had faxed forward to the truckstop, and we hope to get to Aurora Colorado tomorrow.

Houston Texas, dodgy, or not?

We will be running up to Houston during the day on Monday to stage for our pick up on Tuesday morning.
The problem is, our company suggests that we stay out of town the night before as it's a dangerous place, and just run in on the morning.
There are two truck stops opposite the plant, a Loves and a Pilot, and one of our drivers advises that the Loves has security.

So.

Should we go to the Loves or Pilot truckstop (I would), or park somewhere outside of Houston, which would mean driving through the city at 6am anyway?

We are coming up from the South West and loading in the North East, where the arrow is.

The next problem is to try and get back to Alberta without running into holiday oversize permit restrictions, which could see us shut down in Montana for three days! 

I don't know which is the best route back yet, and we have to follow the routes we are given on the permits, so no use planning until we get the paperwork.

Michael Mc Garry heading north in Wyoming November 2011.

We are picking up 12 foot 4" tyres which are a little bit bigger than the ones in the picture above, but not as large as the 13 foot 3" we have had for the last two trips.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Taking off around 11am on Monday from Claresholme, we had a short run down to Eddie's corner in Montana for the night, then ran down through Wyoming, to the Flying J in Cheyenne for Tuesday night, with pretty good weather all the way down.

Wednesday saw us continuing south through Colorado, around Denver.

A few miles East of Denver we turned south again to head through a portion of Oklahoma and into Texas, but not before we were slowed down by the remnants of a sizeable snowfall around Eads and Lamar in Colorado.

Just north of Boise City we came to a halt for an hour whilst a wreck was cleared further south of us.

Then off again in clear blue skies, but at a very slow crawl for quite a few miles.

As we'd been delayed and it was now dark, we just ran down to Vega for the night and parked in the manky Shell station beside the I40.

We had an uneventful drive down to Odessa for our first drop, then a scenic route drive down to San Antonio, which saw us pulling into a Wallmart car park with only minutes left on my log as we kept finding 'no truck parking' signs off all the bloody exit ramps near the city!
During this part of the trip we drove through what must be the prettiest and most extensive Christmas light show in any small town in the USA, Frederickburg TX... sorry, no pictures, but it was magical all through the town.

The last leg was a quick jaunt down to the Mexican border at Pharr where we had to go and get our paperwork stamped  (after a long wait in line) at customs before going to a shipper to be off loaded.
We are now stuck in a truckstop in Edinburg as we can't re-load until Tuesday AM in Houston, but at least we get paid layover pay!

2,250 miles.

This is a nice video of the lights by Mike Starks...

Fredericksburg TX Christmas Lights 2011 by mikestarks

Pharr, Texas

We picked up our load on Monday which is two drops, one going to Odessa TX, then on to Pharr TX, on the Mexican border, where we hope to be finished before Friday evening, so we can run over the Christmas weekend to wherever they send us.

View from the office door.

I've also added a couple of new links to the sidebar of other drivers including one in Ireland (Luke) who travels all over Europe and also does video diaries. The dead links ill be removed soon, unless they get updated, which I doubt.

Near Sheridan Wyoming.

News from home is not so good, with my Mum in hospital after a fall, which makes us realise how far away we are, and also bad news from a friend in Iowa, and bad news from a friend in Holland. Life can be pretty crappy, but although we feel privileged to be here and healthy, and our thoughts and prayers are with them.

Cath being artistic.

Not sure if we'll get internet much on the rest of the journey down to Texas, but we're not chasing (the internet) it and will stop overnight wherever it is suitable, although I am posting this from the Flying J in Cheyenne where we have both just had a nice shower after realising that if you ask for a 'team' shower they give you two, but only deduct one from your loyalty card.

The long haul.

A recent trip for us at the new company.

Chillin' at the Lazy J Motel in Claresholm Alberta, from Saturday afternoon until Monday morning when we shall be setting off on another similar trip. I just need to study the permit restrictions for running oversized loads in the USA, otherwise we might get stuck in a lay by for Christmas. 

We were going to spend Christmas with the Leasks in Redcliff Alberta, but it would be silly to turn a good run down, so hopefully we will get back in time to have a wee dram with them during the New Year period.
If we don't get back up, then we may have a meal or drink with some of the other guys who are running south. I might even make some Nasi Goreng for the Dutch drivers.

Back to the grindstone

Well, we left Canada in spring 2009 and after an eventful time back in Europe, including the best summer we have had for many years working in France, we are now back in Canada.
We are based in Claresholm Alberta and are working for a different company than last time.
Hopefully I will get time to start taking pictures again and post them here, along with a few video clips, to give anyone who's interested, a little insight into what it's like to work in Canada as a long haul trucker.
There are a few links on the sidebar to other guys who do the same kind of work, and they are worth a read, as they are full of info on all aspects of the job.

This was then...

Mick.